The Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Walid Jibrin, has disclosed that the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, defected from the PDP last week to the All Progressives Congress (APC), to pursue his ambition of becoming President or Vice President of Nigeria in 2023. He noted that Dogara is aware he can never get such ticket on the platform of PDP.

Jibrin, in a statement in Abuja on Sunday, indicated that Dogara was so ambitious for the presidential race to the point of ignoring the dispute resolution mechanisms in the PDP.

There are indications that the former Speaker may be aligning with the northeast bloc in the APC to negotiate for the presidential or vice-presidential ticket of the party with President Muhammadu Buhari.

Meanwhile, Senator Jibrin told Nigerians to disregard reasons given by Dogara for returning to APC for the second time.

The PDP BoT Chairman stated: “I am beginning to suspect that Mr. Dogara has a plan of becoming President or Vice President in 2023 which he knows he will never achieve in PDP. I want to assure the former Speaker that PDP shall continue to be very strong and united and its doors remain open to all Nigerians; therefore, PDP will never accept any plan by anybody to destroy the party.”

Jibrin had maintained: “I have read with mixed feelings the reasons given by former Speaker, House of Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, for decamping to APC.

“I am equally sorry for Dogara for not exhausting all avenues available in the party’s constitution for settlement of disputes or complaints by a member of the party.

“I became more disturbed with the reasons given by Mr. Dogara for his decamping considering his position as a former Speaker.

“In his position as a member of BoT, Mr. Dogara never laid any complaints to me as the Chairman of BoT which is the highest advisory organ of the party and the conscience of the party. Considering the reasons given by Dogara for his defection, one is compelled to say that Mr. Dogara has other strong reasons for leaving the PDP.”

While yet to issue an official press statement, Dogara had said he defected to APC due to failure of Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State to deliver on his campaign promises.

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